The Eiffel Tower was closed on Monday after staff walked off the job over a weekend visit by a Hindu religious delegation, bringing one of Paris's busiest landmarks to a halt.
For workers, the issue was not the visit itself but what they said happened to women on duty. Diane Davoine said women were asked to leave their places of work so men could be put in those spots for the visit. She said the move left employees humiliated and said management had since apologised. By Monday morning, staff had decided to strike.
The closure came after around 100 people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha group visited the Eiffel Tower on Saturday. The timing sharpened the anger: on Sunday, BAPS consecrated its first major temple in France in the suburbs of Paris, and the dispute from the day before had already spread through the site by the time the new week began.
Société d'Exploitation de la tour Eiffel said the delegation had asked for the visit to be organised so interactions with women would be limited, and said those conditions should never have been accepted. Ariel Weil, the company's president, said the practice was not acceptable and restated the Eiffel Tower's commitment to republican values and equality between men and women.
The gap between the two versions is now central. The BAPS temple in Paris said the trip was arranged with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours to avoid disrupting or inconveniencing others, and it apologised for any pain or inconvenience caused. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said there would be an investigation into the circumstances of the visit. What remains unanswered is who made the final call to move the women, and whether anyone at the site had the authority to agree to it.
